Teen relationships are doomed and there's an optimal time to run over a feral pig.

I'm just trying to remember why I want to punch you. The right and left halves of the brain are somewhat specialized. Perceptions and actions on the right side of the body are handled on the left, and various other functions are often handled by one side or the other. That's fairly common knowledge, but most people probably don't realize how tightly entwined these things are. Taking simple actions with the right side of the body—say, clenching your fist—can increase the activity across wide areas of the brain on the left. Doing so will increase the experience of things handled on the left side, which happens to include intense emotions like happiness and anger. So, clenching the left fist increases the experience of anxiety and sadness.

That's old news, but the findings prompted recent work that involves the specialization of the right and left sides of the brain for memory. The left side is more strongly involved in encoding memories, while the right does more work during retrieval. And, sure enough, clenching the left fist helped people with recall tasks, while clenching the right during memorization also helped boost performance. So, next time you're struggling with a test, remember to clench your left fist.

The healthy aroma of subway bacteria. Anybody who's stepped onto a subway platform during the heat of the summer would be forgiven for thinking that the air had festered deep in the system for years and probably represents a threat to human life. Fortunately, that just isn't so. A team from the University of Colorado decided to sample the microbes in the subway, and found that it's actually a relatively simple environment. It doesn't even change much with the seasons.

The bacterial ecology most closely represented the ambient air above ground, with an added dose from human-dwelling species, along with a smattering of species found in the water of the system. Non-bacterial species were largely fungi involved in wood rot. And none of the species were known to pose a threat to human health.

Maybe teens just like conflict. Conflict is an inevitable part of relationships. So, the couples that tend to do best aren't necessarily the ones that try to avoid them in the first place. Instead, the ability to resolve a conflict and move on seems to be one of the keys to the long-term survival of most relationships. Unless you're a teenager, apparently. Some researchers enrolled 80 teen couples and tracked their relationship over several years, observing how they resolved conflicts and tracking couples' staying power. And, unlike in adults, conflict resolution skills made no difference to how long a relationship lasted. The authors suggest it's time to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new hypothesis.

When thieves manage to build trust relationships.This study looks at a miniature economy that has boomed regardless of the health of the global one: the exchange of stolen credit cards. Successful thieves can steal more than they need, and willing buyers don't necessarily have the skills to obtain their own card information. So, a division of labor has been established and exchanges have arisen, with managerial oversight and coordinated exchanges. Long-time buyers and thieves have developed trust relationships, but there are formalized procedures for others to start engaging in transactions through an intermediary—a bit like eBay.

The roadkill field guide for northwestern Spain. Wild boar may be considered a delicacy in the US, but it's apparently a major driving hazard in northwest Spain. There, they account for almost two-thirds of the ungulate accidents. That's according to "Temporal pattern of wild ungulate-related traffic accidents in northwest Spain," a new paper that tells you exactly when to go for a drive if you want to run over the feral brethren of the pig. The answer? Hit the road any Sunday night during hunting season. If venison is more your thing, we can heartily recommend taking a drive at dusk during mating season. At least the deer would die happy.

that first study is really blowing my mind. i need to get a 5 cm pink ball and try this out. very interesting.

I've noticed for years actually that i have different thoughts/dreams depending if i'm laying on the right or left side of my body before falling asleep.

To the point where i can get VERY grumpy if I lay on my right side too long.

Good to know there perhaps might be some validity to my suppositions...

That's very interesting. I normally sleep on my left side, but I've read recently (I wish I could recall where) that sleeping on the right (if you can) is advisable because it's easier on your internal organs (specifically your liver). I've not noted any difference in my dreams based on which side I sleep on, but your post has me wanting to give that some thought.

teens and dating (or anything else for that matter)... you might as well task a bunch of men with figuring out women. you'd have similar if not identical luck.

The article is wrong to use the phrase "feral pig". They are probably not talking about what you are talking about- in the USA we mostly get feral pigs, which are just domesticated pigs that have gone wild. In the study they are talking about true wild boars in Europe, which are NOT feral pigs- they are the real wild ancestors of domesticated pigs, and have never been domesticated. Hog as a term is normally used for an adult domesticated pig, at least in the US.

teens and dating (or anything else for that matter)... you might as well task a bunch of men with figuring out women. you'd have similar if not identical luck.

The article is wrong to use the phrase "feral pig". They are probably not talking about what you are talking about- in the USA we mostly get feral pigs, which are just domesticated pigs that have gone wild. In the study they are talking about true wild boars in Europe, which are NOT feral pigs- they are the real wild ancestors of domesticated pigs, and have never been domesticated. Hog as a term is normally used for an adult domesticated pig, at least in the US.

though if you do hit a boar (or even a regular adult pig) with a car, chances are you aren't driving away from it. these are very solid beasts that will do quite a number on anything moving at highway speeds.

Although I have never run into a boar but I heard so many saying that if you don't bring down a boar in one single gun shot. You are dead. And when you have run into a pack of boars. You are definitely dead.

Wait.. About my knowledge on boar, is it coming from the left side of my brain or coming from the right side of my brain?

Also, I usual to hold my girlfriend's hand with my left to her right hand. Am I making her happy or making her unhappy? Should I switch hand and hold her left hand instead? Very confusing. Anyone?

That first study is DRIVEL. It had inadequate statistical power, the group sizes and genders were unmatched, the significance analysis was wrongly done, and even then the vast majority of their claimed results were not significant.

The absolute bottom line is that none of the tested conditions improved recall compared to doing nothing at all. Even if their results hold up under further analysis (very doubtful), the most that can be said is that right-handers perform *worse* than normal if they're asked to distract themselves by doing clenching exercises, and that it's particularly bad if they're doing the exercises with their non-dominant hand.

Of course teen relationships are doomed. They are in the "experimental" phase, where they are mimicking what adults do, then casting that mimicry aside and trying something else.

That's pretty much what being a teenager is all about - learning to be an adult and a useful member of society (and hopefully surviving the learning process).

Hmmm...I do know people who meet each other at 7 or 8 and are getting married now. But that's not strictly a teenage relationship, right?

However, I have found that among my friend no relationship that started during puberty years have lasted more than a year into college...with the exception of myself :-)

Yes, my statement was sweepingly broad. There are always exceptions - I know people who met as teenagers and eventually married. I married when I was 19 (and strongly recommend against it, though it has worked for 25 years so far). But this is rare - most teenage relationships really are "let's play grown-ups".

Yes, my statement was sweepingly broad. There are always exceptions - I know people who met as teenagers and eventually married. I married when I was 19 (and strongly recommend against it, though it has worked for 25 years so far). But this is rare - most teenage relationships really are "let's play grown-ups".

That is quite true...Looking back the single most thing that struck me as immature was believing that I was mature enough. I don't know how much is being done on teen psychology but perhaps this is a topic worth looking at.

19 is awesomely early. From where I come from 21 is the legal line, and marrying before 25 is almost unheard of.

"And, unlike in adults, conflict resolution skills made no difference to how long a relationship lasted. The authors suggest it's time to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new hypothesis."

It's an underdeveloped frontal lobe thing. Knowing what you should do at that stage has insufficient influence over what you actually do. We look back on that time and tell ourselves it was experience that changed us. Only partly. Some areas aren't fully myelinated until the late teens or early 20s in some individuals. This is also why giving a 16yo driver's ed doesn't significantly reduce his/her MVA risk.

The subtext of all of this is making sure the standards of OA scientific publishing stay rigorous (PLOS One has been something of a much-watched experiment for this model over the years) so the implications of the debate go beyond dubious study design and misused statistics.

Of course teen relationships are doomed. They are in the "experimental" phase, where they are mimicking what adults do, then casting that mimicry aside and trying something else.

That's pretty much what being a teenager is all about - learning to be an adult and a useful member of society (and hopefully surviving the learning process).

They also have less developed frontal lobes and less ability to weigh the consequences of actions and direct their actions to produce a desired long-term result. So even if they want a particular relationship to last, they are more prone to screwing it up than adults are.

"And, unlike in adults, conflict resolution skills made no difference to how long a relationship lasted. The authors suggest it's time to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new hypothesis."

It's an underdeveloped frontal lobe thing. Knowing what you should do at that stage has insufficient influence over what you actually do. We look back on that time and tell ourselves it was experience that changed us. Only partly. Some areas aren't fully myelinated until the late teens or early 20s in some individuals. This is also why giving a 16yo driver's ed doesn't significantly reduce his/her MVA risk.

It doesn't? I'd be surprised if stats bore that out. Knowledge of how to operate a car and what is safe and legal ought to have some influence.

Do you want to go further and suggest that all that health education is probably ineffective at preventing teen pregnancy?

And back again closer to relationships: kids observe a lot about relationships but never saw their parents' successful courting relationship (eww!!!). Perhaps they would benefit from explicit coaching but it's not part of our culture for parents to provide that.

"And, unlike in adults, conflict resolution skills made no difference to how long a relationship lasted. The authors suggest it's time to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new hypothesis."

It's an underdeveloped frontal lobe thing. Knowing what you should do at that stage has insufficient influence over what you actually do. We look back on that time and tell ourselves it was experience that changed us. Only partly. Some areas aren't fully myelinated until the late teens or early 20s in some individuals. This is also why giving a 16yo driver's ed doesn't significantly reduce his/her MVA risk.

It doesn't? I'd be surprised if stats bore that out. Knowledge of how to operate a car and what is safe and legal ought to have some influence.

Do you want to go further and suggest that all that health education is probably ineffective at preventing teen pregnancy?

And back again closer to relationships: kids observe a lot about relationships but never saw their parents' successful courting relationship (eww!!!). Perhaps they would benefit from explicit coaching but it's not part of our culture for parents to provide that.

If my memory serves me correctly, which is a nontrivial assumption, the decision-making process in teens stems from overestimating rewards rather than failing to recognize risks. Teach kids that smoking ruins your lungs, and you see negligible effect. Convince kids that smoking is uncool, and it works wonders.

The application to insane driving is pretty straightforward ("I'll win this drag race and the cheerleaders will all want to date me"), in relationships maybe it's just an exaggerated notion of the grass being greener with another partner.

Of course teen relationships are doomed. They are in the "experimental" phase, where they are mimicking what adults do, then casting that mimicry aside and trying something else.

That's pretty much what being a teenager is all about - learning to be an adult and a useful member of society (and hopefully surviving the learning process).

It's not just that, people's brains aren't even fully formed until around 25 years of age (average). Combine that with the way we place kids in large groups of their peers (school) while the adults go off somewhere else (work), you can expect them to have difficulty maturing. Of course making mistakes is part of learning, but you can also learn a good deal from the observation of others.

It's an underdeveloped frontal lobe thing. Knowing what you should do at that stage has insufficient influence over what you actually do. We look back on that time and tell ourselves it was experience that changed us. Only partly. Some areas aren't fully myelinated until the late teens or early 20s in some individuals.

Well beyond my twenties .... still waiting to crack that do what I know I should do thing. ;o)